The+Food+Chain

=The Food Chain= Virgil Simpelo: v_simpelo@yahoo.com



Instructional Objective
Learners will learn the concept of the food chain or food web where one flow of energy from one organism transfers to another in Biology context. It also introduces predator versus prey within the food chain. 2. All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understand­ ing this concept: a. Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains. b. Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem.
 * __Grade Four: Life Sciences Standards__**

Learners & Context of Use
Food chain is designed for but not limited to elementary schoolers to 8th graders who are interested in Life Sciences or Biology. Most children have a strong interest in animals and it is important for them to know how animals behave in the wild. The game can be played at school or at home simply needing a table top, room enough for up to 6 players. The gameplay is determined by chance (dice roll), so the game can be played repetitively with different results. Learners would benefit from an introduction of the food chain and describing the ecosystem the board game is set. After game play, learners should reflect on other ecosystems that the food chain applies.

Competing Products
Two games that also cover the food chain is [|Predator, The Forest Food Chain Game],and [|Scum: The Food Chain Game.]. Both games are card games. Scum is where regular play cards have been replaced by animals (eg. King is replaced by a lion). Predator's description reads, ""Predator is a whole new idea in card decks based upon the natural food relationships in a temperate zone forest. An animal takes what it eats and is taken by what eats it. Plants, as basic producers of food score higher energy points than animals.."

Food Chain utilizes game pieces with dice rolls and a battle field board with fight sequences.

**Object of the Game**
There are two main goals in Food Chain. Players using the "prey" must collect food for their herd, hibernation, or individual survival and escape to their homes (den, forest, river). "Predators" must hunt down the "prey" characters before they escape. The game is over when all of the prey reach their respective finish spaces.

Content Analysis
What are the elements of this content? Breaking it down will help you to think about possible game elements to include. Create a link from this point in the document to a separate new page created with the Board Game Content Analysis template.  Food Chain Content Analysis

Game Materials
List each of the physical objects one would find in the box. For example, the board, each type of card, each type of prize or token, etc.) After listing the materials, describe each in as much detail as needed. Include illustrations of the board and each type of card.


 * Game board
 * die (20 sided)
 * animal stat cards
 * animal game pieces

Time Required
How long would the game take to set up? How long to play? Would one carry a game over several play periods? Game set up depends on how long it takes to assign game pieces (5 min). Game play can be 15-30 minutes.

The Rules
List the rules as you would provide them to the players. Use a numbered list and keep the rules short, simple, and unambiguous. If there are multiple forms of the game for different objectives or different levels of challenge, separate the rules accordingly rather than merging them into one set. __**Action**__ Every action is determined by the roll of the 20 sided die. __**Movement**__ Players roll 20 sided die in order to move (10 and under move 1 space, 10 and over move 2 spaces). Note: If rabbit rolls a 20, it can move 3 spaces. Players can move forward, backward and sideways. __**Life Points**__ Each animal has a set of life points. Once Life Points reach zero that animal has become food. Prey Predators
 * Rabbit (4 points)
 * Deer buck (8 points)
 * Moose (10 points)
 * Wolverine (6 points)
 * Wolf (8 points)
 * Bear (10 points)

__**Battle and Escaping**__ When a predator moves to a neighboring square to prey or vice versa, a battle sequence initiates for one round. Predators have attacks that deal a particular amount of damage or can escape. Prey can also attack or escape. Life points and die roll determine victor of battle. If predator rolls higher than prey, prey will take damage to Life Point pool depending on the attack. If prey rolls higher, than they can escape or attack. Prey Predators
 * Rabbit (Nip attack 1/2 point); (Camouflage escape)
 * Deer buck (Antler rush 2 point); (Leap escape)
 * Moose (Gore 3 points); (Buck escape)
 * Wolverine (Chomp attack 1 point); (Scurry escape)
 * Wolf (Gnash attack 2 points); (Flee escape)
 * Bear (Slap attack 3 points), (Pounce attack 4 points); (Bearly escape)

Motivational Issues
Describe how the game engages the learner. How does it make use of curiosity, challenge, control, fantasy, competition, cooperation, etc.? (No one game will do all of these things, so focus on the particular strengths of this particular game.) Make specific reference to the theoretical readings associated with this course. The attraction to this game is the battle phases either between two players or by teams (challenge and cooperation), plus the game plays on chance. The instructional motivation is the survival factor of both predators and prey in an environment (fantasy).

Design Process
Describe the process you went through in putting the game together. What were your first thoughts? How did you enhance your ideas? What ideas did you consider and reject (and why?). How did you gather background information? What did you do to see if there are similar games out there? What did you do to get feedback on the idea? How did you flesh out the game to the point of having a playable prototype? How did you gather feedback from that? What lessons did you learn from this that you'll carry to your next game design project?

I actually got the idea from the new version of Dungeons and Dragons that was made about 6 years ago (D20 system). Playing with some friends, the excitement factor was anticipating the dice roll if you would win or achieve an action (strike, escape, magic). It really doesn't take a whole lot of skill other than having a good imagination. Taking it to an educational level, the food chain was a natural way of things that children could understand. I thought a simple battle scenario in order to interact with players would be the fun part and the thrill of being chased would encourage some excitement in playing. At first I had the game board as squares, but was advised to change the board to hexagons as that would promote more movement around the board. Plus, I was advised to look at the game Yellow Stone, that was similar in the concept, except that it used herds of animals with multiple pieces that moved about the terrain. The concept joins to simple game types, race game and battle field. I saw that there were other food chain games with the links provided, but most were card games with no physical pieces.